


Bring Me Back a Tiger

by MelodramaticMrTails



Series: Infected AU [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Animal Ears, Begnal Tiger, Catnip Use, Explicit Language, Humor, Hunting, Hybrids, M/M, Mass Murder, Tails, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-06-08
Updated: 2012-07-31
Packaged: 2017-11-07 07:29:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/428472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodramaticMrTails/pseuds/MelodramaticMrTails
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While some Infected choose to struggle with humanity, others prefer to embrace animal instinct. With some help, Bengal Tiger Sebastian Moran escapes his ultimate death and lives the life he was better suited for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Bring Me Back A Tiger

_ “ In the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding on the back of the tiger ended up inside. ” - John Fitzgerald Kennedy _

Chapter One: Warning! Infected May Bite

  


 

  
Bloody bitch asshole son of a whore fucker. 

Sebastian Moran was not happy. He was too big for this cage and his massive body was cramped between the stone walls and fence door. Given enough room, he could easily knock the door off, but that was exactly why he wasn’t given enough room. Most of his joints were beyond the normal flexibility of a healthy human, and thankfully, so were his hips. It allowed him to nuzzle himself on his feet with his knees high above his back without any discomfort. At least, there wouldn’t have been any discomfort if he hadn’t been in his position for eight hours. He couldn’t stand up straight even if he wanted to, nor could he even straighten his arms out beyond the elbows. It wasn’t even long enough for him to lay flat on his back. He had no choice but to crouch in his position for all of those eight hours.   


He’d spent four of those hours trying to break the lock on his muzzle. He supposed he shouldn’t have bitten the man bathing him. He could bathe his fucking self and the stupid bitch’s hands were getting a little too low for his comfort. Now he didn’t have any way to continue his escape plan. For the last week, he’d been chewing on the fence and managed a small hole in the corner with his massive teeth, but now he was out of luck. He’d been mitted as soon as he arrived, preventing any use of his claws on either his hands or feet. Not to mention he couldn’t use his bloody fingers now.    


To be fair, he was dangerous. Sebastian wasn’t in the pound to be adopted. He was here because they couldn’t put him in prison. He had warned his Trainers that if they kept treating him like an animal, he would start acting like one. What did animals not like? Being stabbed repeatedly by injection needles. Sebastian hated the behavior controlling injections. They fogged his mind and made him paranoid and agitated for no reason. He broke out of his binds and proceeded to attack the two healthy human Trainers. They ran and he chased them down, injuring anyone who tried to get in his way, healthy and infected alike. Sebastian killed both of the Trainers.   


Now he was here, awaiting his judgement. His crimes were too heinous to put him down immediately. Instead, they were going to put him through a trial. Sebastian knew it would end one of two ways; he would be put down ‘humanely’ and this was all just to torture him or he would be submitted for research to control his aggression. Whether it was to dull it or make it worse, he didn’t know anymore.   


Sebastian was aggressive, territorial, and didn’t like to be in a cage, but that wasn’t the only way he was like the Bengal Tiger. His thick tail swished around to show his displeasure and warning anyone that he would pounce the moment he was given the chance. He clawed constantly at the inside of his mitts, trying his best to tear them open with his thick claws. His rounded ears listened attentively for anything and everything going around and sharp yellow eyes glared down the woman that appeared in front of his cage.   


“Alright, Sebastian. Time to go.” She sighed irritatedly. He was out of time. Fuck. Sebastian wouldn’t hesitate to use his teeth if she was stupid enough to just open the cage. That was why she wasn’t, much to his displeasure. His muzzle wasn't helpful for that idea, either. He could still tackle her to the floor and give her a concussion. He didn’t blame her, she was doing her job, but she couldn’t blame him for hating her for it. Sure enough, one of the guards came to her side with a tranquilizer and aimed it at him as they always did. Sebastian didn’t even flinch. They’d shot him twice in the face already because he hadn’t looked away and even that didn’t make the tiger any more likely to look away.    


Sebastian Moran had never needed the cure and never needed to be Infected. To be honest, he’d never wanted to be, either. When he was a teenager, his father had taken him to a shady man to be injected. It had been a slow and painful process and what had it gotten him? A stay in the military. After his father had seen what the cure turned him into, the man turned his back on him. Sebastian had confined him to a wheelchair and never looked back. The army hadn’t been completely bad, some of it was actually enjoyable, but he simply could never get used to being treated the way he was. Every part of his life was controlled and what they couldn’t control was subdued with shots and behavioral training. Sebastian had fought it when appropriate and allowed them when there was nothing he could do.    


It was inevitable that he would snap. It would happen again, too. The people here would slip up and he would mass murder everyone in the building. He gave a satisfied huff at the thought. Sebastian mentally prepared himself to be sedated.    


“Knock him out,” the woman instructed, motioning to the mighty beast man. At the last second, the guard turned his gun away from Sebastian and instead pointed it at her. Without warning, he shot her in the face.  _Didn’t feel too good, did it bitch!_ Sebastian could barely hold back his smirk, even though it was well hidden by his muzzle. The guard, or whoever it really was, clearly wasn’t interested in him and turned away from the cage and the unconscious women to murmur something into his walkie-talkie.    


Sebastian spotted the woman’s keys on the floor and swiftly shoved his tail out the hole he had chewed out and dragged the keys quietly into his cage and into his mitted hands. A quick search assured him that these weren’t the right keys to his cage or his muzzle or his bloody mittens! He wanted to roar in frustration. He heard footsteps hurrying down the hall of the pound and swiftly tucked the ring of keys out of sight and turned his eyes to watch the scene unfold outside his cage.   


A short man in a fancy suit appeared and knocked the armed guard aside with an excited look. He giddily searched over the woman, looking through all of her pockets and angrily rolling her over to check her back pockets as well. Sebastian absently wondered why he was looking for. He didn’t have to wonder for very long.   


“Where are the keys?!” the shorter male screeched loudly, causing many of the Infected to go into a hushed silence. Jackpot.   


“I know where the keys are,” Sebastian grunted, placing a heavy, covered hand on the cage and flexing his fingers around the metal fencing. The fancy man in his fancy suit turned to stare at him with a sneer. The look in his eyes nearly made the tiger flinch. There was something strange in the back of those brown eyes and Sebastian wasn’t sure what it was, but it was frightening. He didn’t flinch, though, and instead, watched the man with piercing gold eyes. The man’s look changed from upset to amused. The tiger wasn’t sure if that was better or not.   


“Do you?” he questioned and knelt down to come face to face with the man in the cage. His eyes seemed to search over all of him and Sebastian’s ears flickered a little. He pushed himself up to sit, arching his back in a form of a confined stretch. He gave a single nod.    


“Tell me,” the man demanded.    


“Let me out,” Sebastian shot back curtly. He wasn’t exactly going to hand over the keys and expect the man to let him out for being kind. The man smirked and motioned to the lock with a pointed gesture. His armed friend bashed the lock cleanly open with the butt of his weapon and it swung open neatly. Sebastian peeked out of the cage and down either side of the hall strategically. He picked himself up off of his double-jointed haunches and stepped out of the cage to his full height. It felt good to stand again and he took a moment to free up his stiff body. He was easily a foot and a half taller than the man in his suit and Sebastian had to dip his head down to the man. He shook his head a little to make the lock on his muzzle jingle.    


The man stroked the side of his face and bristled the stripped, cream mane around Sebastian’s neck. The tiger made a small grunt of a noise, though the touching wasn’t unpleasant. He hadn’t been petted in a long time, after all, and he was a little too big now.    


“You poor thing. Being locked up like this.” The man obviously wasn’t aware of his ‘crimes’. Of course, that was such a loose term nowadays. The man brought out a lock picking kit from his suit pocket and after a few seconds Sebastian’s muzzle fell to the ground with a ‘clank’. The man was clearly some kind of criminal himself. Sebastian snapped his teeth together, enjoying the lovely sound before turning them on the man. He growled low in his throat, threatening the man without the need for words. The man didn’t even flinch. Instead, he grasped the tiger’s chin loosely, stroking the underside of his throat.    


Sebastian lowered his head a little to look at the man properly. He was smiling of all things. The tiger snapped his teeth at him again and again he received no result. Sebastian huffed, his tail swishing and smacking against the ground between his feet.   


“You’re insane,” he grumbled.   


“Guilty,” the man hummed back. Sebastian flicked the keys at him with his tail. He wasn’t going to stick around to get put back in his cage and with a happy swish of the tail, he began his departure. As he walked away, he used his teeth to crack the binds on his hands and tear the mittens away. Before he reached the door, he heard the smaller man speak again.   


“Tranq him.” That was a terrible choice. Sebastian turned on a pence and with a limber waist, dodged the dart. He bared his teeth viciously and then he was running. The armed guard struggled to reload his weapon. He was too slow. Sebastian tackled him to the ground with a powerful force and the shorter man backed away as if to give him room. The healthy human under him thrashed about, but the Infected had his massive maw of teeth around his throat before he could properly defend himself.    


Sebastian gave no mercy and with powerful jaws, he snapped his attacker’s throat, killing him instantly. He dropped the guard like foul prey and turned vicious eyes on the guard's boss. That had been a terrible idea for the nameless man. He took a menacing step toward the shorter man.    


“Fantastic,” the man breathed. Sebastian was stunned. The short, stupidly insane man started scratching his neck and ears like he was some sort of house cat! He didn’t know how to respond to the fingers around his neck and against his scalp. A healthy human, of all things, had never petted him before; only other infected. Sebastian shoved him away with a jerk of the shoulder, shoving him into the opposite cage and growled loudly at the man.   


“Get off me!” he snapped loudly, warning the man with a growl and an irritate shake of the tail not to do that again. The man made a strange noise back at him. Was that- a roar? Was the man  _roaring_ at him?   


“What- what are you doing?” Sebastian demanded loudly, turning his ears back. However, the man only continued his strange noises.    


“Stop it,” the tiger insisted a little louder. The man started growling! Sebastian threw his head around in confusion and irritation, confused and unsure of what to do. He really didn’t like this! The tiger breathed out a frustrated noise from his maw, wrinkled his nose, folded his ears back and lashed his tail around in anger and annoyance. Finally, when he couldn’t take it anymore, Sebastian let out a mighty, ground shaking roar. The already hushed Infected suddenly fell into eerie silence and so did the tiny, healthy human. For a moment, anyways.    


“Brilliant,” he breathed out, clearly pleased with himself. Sebastian debated lunging at him, as well. He wasn’t entirely sure why he didn’t. The man deserved it. Had he been teasing him into roaring? Why would he do that?   


“You want to come home with me, boy?” the man questioned. He did not just call him ‘boy’. Sebastian prepared another growl but the man began to scratch his ears again and the noise died in his throat. He had to admit, that wasn’t that bad. His little manicured nails scratched his skin in the most wonderful way. Sebastian settled down a little, though his tail still lashed around.   


“Don’t call me ‘boy’,” the tiger huffed instead, crouching down a little more to allow the human to pet him some more. He couldn’t help it. It was wonderful.    


“What’s your name them, Mr. Bengal Tiger?” he asked. Sebastian ran his tongue over his bloodied teeth a little, but didn’t hesitate in his answer.    


“Sebastian Moran. 12-197-8. Bengal Tiger type 7,” he introduced himself in the way that had been hammered into his head constantly in the service. Some of his training was actually useful. He wasn’t sure if this one was, actually. Nothing wrong with introducing yourself to a complete, unarmed, stranger. The man brought his hands down and grasped the collar of his shirt, suddenly yanking him forward. Sebastian steeled himself to prevent himself from losing balance. The man nuzzled his face against his stubby mane and scared face. He didn’t smell like an Infected, but he was certainly acting like one.   


“My name is Jim. Jim Moriarty. Consulting Criminal. Number one.” Sebastian didn't have the least idea what a consulting criminal was, but he was right in thinking that the man was a criminal. Normal people couldn't pick a lock that fast. Sebastian could barely pick a lock that fast and it was part of his training. He didn't have to ask the question, nor did he get a chance to answer the man's question. The tiger realized he might not have had much of a choice anyways when Jim removed a choke chain from off of a hook and pulled it around his neck. He let out a menacing growl, but again the human ignored it as though he weren't a huge, dangerous beast. Sebastian wasn’t entirely sure what to do about it, though. The man, Jim, wasn’t afraid of him. The next logical step would be to lunge at him, but Sebastian was wary of the idea. If Jim wasn’t afraid of him, perhaps there was a logical reason for it.   
So, for now, the mighty Bengal Tiger allowed himself to be slightly less mighty for the moment and be led out of the building like an oversized dog. Unconsciously, he shook his feet with each step, trying to shake off the mittens covering his feet.    


“What’s a consulting criminal, exactly?” Sebastian murmured, swishing his tail around calmly. The first breath of fresh air was the greatest. He was free. He could do whatever he want and go wherever he wanted and no one could tell him otherwise. Most of all, he wouldn’t die a horrible death of dying. The first thing he wanted was some booze and a cigarette. His chain was yanked, momentarily choking him and making him follow the shorter man.    


“I fix people’s problems,” Jim explained, holding the other end of the leash much too happily. “When people are in over their heads, they call me. For a price, and if it’s worth my time, I solve everyone’s problems. Please Jim, fix it for me.” He sighed happily as the door to a limo opened up. Jim shoved him inside and Sebastian quickly slipped to the other side to give the man room. He looked around curiously, lips parted to take in the scent of the new space better.    


“So. You’re a paid killer?” Sebastian confirmed. It was the wrong thing, clearly, for Jim scrunched his nose up and scowled.   


“Never something so boring.” He gave another pull on the chain and Sebastian was jerked forward. The man practically pulled his face into the finely dressed stomach and began to part his orange hair to view where his rounded ears met his skin. Sebastian growled again and attempted to push away, but Jim held onto his ears tight and it was rather painful so he had to allow the man his work.    


“You’re a sniper,” Jim mused. Sebastian perked his ears a little. How did he know that? “How can you even hold a gun with these hands?” He released the stiff ears and changed his sights to the tiger’s broad hands. Again, he growled and was ignored. Sebastian wouldn’t argue that he had strange hands. They were a little shorter for a man his size, but thick and fuzzy with orange fur. The more obvious distinction was his thumb, though. It rested high up just off center of his palm, not quite on his wrist but clearly where it wasn’t supposed to be. While it was fully opposable, it wasn’t in the right spot to use in most cases. Sebastian had learned to live with it, though. Jim was fascinated with them, however. He pulled at his claws, flexing them in and out of the protective sheath. Then, as suddenly as he was interested, he was interested in the next thing. That next thing, unfortunately, was his feet.   


Jim yanked off the mittens and the look that came over his eyes was one of pure joy. He yanked the tiger’s feet up and Sebastian naturally positioned himself more comfortably. He didn’t have feet but rather massive tiger like paws. Sebastian spread his toes out in relaxation and again, Jim fiddled with his claws. The beast wasn’t sure if he liked that, but the man’s curiosity was enjoyable. Most people didn’t like him and they didn’t like his features. He was one of highest forms of Infected and often times, even other Infected were intimidated by him. He was more animal in instinct, to be brutally honest, and perhaps, Sebastian thought, that wasn’t a bad thing. Jim seemed to be okay with it.   


“God you’re furry.” Jim yanked his shirt up and Sebastian was less upset this time. The man was obviously intent on helping himself to whatever he wanted. He rubbed the matt of short yellow and black fur that spread over the Infected’s chest and across his belly and into his trousers. Then he was being petted again. Sebastian couldn’t help himself. That felt amazing.   
Sebastian purred.    


The great and powerful Bengal Tiger laid back in his seat, as much on his back as he could in the limo seat, and with every heavy our breath, purred low in his throat as the small man assaulted his stomach and chest with sweet little nails. It took him a moment to realize what he was doing and when he did, Sebastian hurriedly shoved the man off of him.   


“Stop it,” he grunted, prickling his fur up unhappily. Jim only giggled though.   


“Fine,” the healthy man answered playfully. He gave another yank on the choke collar and Sebastian bared his teeth this time. He sneered at the human, loosening the loop of chain around his neck and scooting a few inches away. Jim snatched up the leash swiftly, though, jerking him forward with a surprising amount of strength. He held the tiger by his collar, keeping his head low and in what Sebastian knew well as a submissive position.    


“You don’t understand, little kitty, kitty.” Jim scratched him behind one ear, but it wasn’t pleasant in any way. Sebastian’s tail stiffened against his will. “You belong to me now.” Once again, Sebastian had no idea what he was supposed to do in this situation. He must have agreed to something unwittingly to make the man think that he belonged to anyone. Sebastian must have not been listening properly enough to have agreed to such a thing. He couldn’t come up with an answer quick enough.   


“Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of you,” Jim purred, cupping both of the rounded ears much more gently. Sebastian had clearly gotten himself into another terrible situation and he wasn’t even sure how this time. This man was scary. Sebastian could be sure of that. He decided, or rather convinced himself, to check out these living conditions before making any unwise decisions. Any place was better than his tiny cage, but the man’s suit said that he was well off. If it was a nice place with nice food (and more petting), then there was no harm sticking around? What was the worst that could happen that wasn’t going to happen before?    


“And if you betray me, I’ll turn you into a rug.” That was new. Sebastian decided to not think about it too much. However, once again his mind wandered to what exactly Jim was doing in the pound. Surely he wasn’t there for the Infected. The car came to a stop and Jim released his head. Upon stepping out of the car, he realized that the flat was high priced just from where it was located. He glanced around a little, taking in the new sights. There was a little cafe right across the street, several signs for restaurants, and the buildings scraped the sky. 

He could go for some good food right now, actually. His leash was jerked and Sebastian hacked viciously.    


“My hearing is great, you know!” the tiger snapped at the shorter man irritably.    


“This is fun, though,” Jim teased with another tug. Sebastian was going to bite him. Neither of them paid much mind to the people very clearly avoiding the massive, Infected, and dangerous looking Sebastian. The tiger was used to it and Jim enjoyed the fear his new pet struck in people. His flat was very high up and Sebastian would admit, he liked it. There were never any good trees in London.   


“Mew.” The first thing he was met with was a tiny cat. Well Sebastian supposed it was big for a cat, but it was fairly tiny compared to him. It sat on the back of the couch and stared at the door as if it were expecting them to arrive. Sebastian sniffed at the strange little animal before ignoring it to examine more important things. The flat was huge and spacious and everything was color coordinated and smelled clean. He loved it so far. Before he managed to wander too far, Jim snapped him back.   


Going to. Bite. The fuck. Out of him.   


Jim pulled the chain from around his neck and much to Sebastian’s displeasure, didn’t burn it. The Bengal Tiger glared at him with a piercing stare before going off to examine the rest of the flat. It was nice. It was very nice. He turned back to Jim for some sort of further instruction, but the man was one step ahead of him. He stood before the open door of one of the bedrooms. Sebastian wearily padded in.   


“You’ll be sleeping in here.”    


“You were expecting me?” Sebastian grunted suspiciously. Jim laughed and leaned against the door frame.    


“This is Shere Khan’s room,” He shrugged simply. The little feline popped up on the bed and meowed at him again. Sebastian grunted. Sharing a room with a cat was better than his cage. This situation really wasn’t fair to him. Everything was better than his cage and even knowing that, Sebastian wasn’t thrilled to have the tiny thing sharing a room with him.    


“Right. Your cat has its own room.” It wasn’t like that was unreasonable for an unreasonably wealthy man or anything. And Jim was unreasonably wealthy. He was also a criminal, though, and Sebastian wasn’t sure how those things went together properly.    


“Yes you do,” Jim responded teasingly. He received a glare and the very obvious lack of amusement.    


“That’s not funny.”   


“Yes it is,” the man responded smugly. “Bath.” He jerked his head toward the hall and disappeared out of sight. Sebastian, for now, decided it was a good idea to do as he was told. A bath also sounded wonderful, so he wasn’t exactly going to argue. He flickered his tail against the ground and ‘Shere Khan’ followed him out of the room. The tub was the appropriate size for the flat; huge. Jim ran warm water and Sebastian didn’t wait for him to leave. He had been bathed by the people in the pound for the last couple weeks and before that, he’d bathed in public showers with the other Infected under the watch of Trainers. His nudity was no problem to him and Jim didn’t seem to care either. The very opposite, in fact.   


“Oh dear. You’re very well endowed, aren’t you?” the man purred. Sebastian swished his tail around, but made no comment. That was such a strange thing to say. He hopped into the tub gracefully, but with a loud thud of his weight. He forgot how great warm water was. The large creature nudged himself against the bottom of the tub with his legs folded up and his knees poking out above his back and gently rested his chin on the side. His tail splashed a bit of water around, but he kept it under control for the most part. Jim touched his out turned knee.   


“That’s interesting,” he purred and Sebastian turned his head a little to watch the man. He clearly had never seen an Infected up close before. The tiger doubted he knew much about them, like any healthy human did. It was best that they didn’t, otherwise they might actually hate how the government treated Infecteds. Sebastian guessed that was why they kept everything so secret. After the PAMI trouble two decades ago, everything tightened up. The last thing the military was going to do was give up their greatest weapon.   


“What is interesting exactly?” the tiger grunted, shifting mildly as the little man poured copious amounts of shampoo over his furry form. He was already clean, but the man was clearly going to do whatever he wanted anyways and it was a nice feeling. Jim stripped off his overcoat, rolled up his sleeves, and proceeded to scrub his gorgeous orange, yellow, and black fur. It covered most of his body in thick, luscious patches. His back, the outside of his arms, and his legs were covered in orange and stripped generously, while his chest and stomach gradually turned pale yellow. Though he kept his hair trimmed up nicely and proper, the black stripes that followed the same pattern were still clear and the fluffy, straight hairs that lined his throat and under his chin completed his look. Between his fur, his feet, his slightly obscure hands, the fangs, the tail, the ears, and his eyes, it seemed impossible that there were Infected that were in worse condition than him.    


“You don’t have any joints, do you?” Jim seemed to already be thinking of ways to use this and Sebastian wasn’t sure if that was a good thing.   


“I’m double jointed,” Sebastian informed him with a small huff, gently beginning to purr again under the generous stroking and scrubbing. It was so much better than when the shelter workers tried to do it which, in turn, made him less wanting to bite Jim when he hands wandered to clean more private parts.    


“That’s not Hypermobility,” Jim snorted all knowingly. That was a little irritating.    


“No,” The tiger growled back. “Not ‘hypermobility’. Double jointed,” he insisted again. The little healthy thing chuckled at him though, and grabbed his ears in cupped hands.   


“That’s what Hypermobility is, stupid,” Jim giggled as though it were an affectionate statement. It wasn’t, that was for sure. Sebastian growled at the man. Leave it to a healthy to think he knew more about an Infected than the damn Infected.   


“I know what it means,” Sebastian was, in fact, not stupid. In fact, he was bloody brilliant. He’d passed at the top of his class and was just as violent as he was smart. He was big, he was smart, he could strategize, he never missed a target, and he was terrifying. Jim’s worst mistake would be thinking he wasn’t. “And I’m telling you,  _I am double jointed_ . As in,  _I have double the joints_ .”    


The next thing he knew, Jim had his hands in the bathwater again, but this time they weren’t washing. The rough fingers pressed into the connection between his pelvis bone and his femur, digging firmly into his skin to feel at the bone under it. He paused with the most devilish smirk.   


“Oh,” Jim breathed, head tilted and lips parted. “You do. That’s interesting. I wouldn’t call it a second joint, but,” he licked his lips, “You can  clearly  change the angle of which your bones connect.” He removed his hands completely and began to dry them off with a crisp white towel.   


“Mm, Sebastian,” the healthy man hummed pleasantly. Sebastian was only a little bit unnerved at this point. “You are a weapon of unimaginable proportions. Fantastic.” And then he left. The tiger watched the open door curiously, nearly expecting Jim to return for one reason or another. He didn’t, but the cat thing did. It pushed against the frame of the door and mewed at him again, then made itself comfortable on the edge of the sink. Sebastian finished his bath and rinsed himself off with the shower before hopping back out. He toweled himself off as much as he could, but the towels collected his fur more than they collected the water. Jim probably wasn’t going to be happy about that.    


There had to be a hairdryer in here somewhere. A bit of searching produced one, sure enough. That figured. Sebastian was very aware of how Jim dressed in the completely, what, two hours they’d known each other? Shere Khan watched him strangely and Sebastian pointed the hairdryer at the creature to send it running. He hated small animals. They were so small and bothersome. He finished drying himself off, finding it no stranger than usual in having to blow dry all of him. The fur really helped, though. It kept him warm in climates healthy humans and some Infected couldn’t otherwise stand. Not to mention it allowed him to sit quietly for hours without having to dress or undress with changing temperatures. Sebastian blow dried his face and his tail last before politely straightening up the bathroom and trotting out into the flat in the nude.   


Jim was gone. Sebastian couldn’t smell or hear him in the flat. Now what was he supposed to do? He did the smart thing and wandered back to his ‘room’. The cat was pompously curled up in the center of the bed and Sebastian was tempted to scare it off again. However, the little pink sticky note was enough to avert his attention for now.   


_Clothes in the wardrobe._   


Weird. Sebastian opened up the solid doors with a sneaking suspicion. They weren’t clothes for him, though. They seemed to be some weird collection of a variety of different sizes and quality. They were all suits, unfortunately, but he didn’t have much of a choice right now. He plucked out one that would fit him and managed to squeeze himself into it with only the minimum amount of altering. His tail had to go somewhere and Sebastian solved that problem by ripping a v in the waistband where his tail poked out. He’d never liked suits. They were so awkward and inflexible. He wouldn’t be able to run in this. The tiger sighed heavily and patted out his shirt without using his claws. Once dressed (mostly), he quietly went out to search for the strange little man.   


He only found more sticky notes, though.   


_Meet me on the roof._ The yellow note read where it sat stuck to the lift doors. Sebastian wearily stepped in and Shere Khan hurriedly slipped in before the doors closed and sat on his bare feet. He had to guess Jim wouldn’t like him kicking the cat. The next note, this one bright green. His color vision was a little less saturated, he knew from the test he’d been posed with, but if Jim was trying to throw him off with these colors, it wasn’t working. He wasn’t color blind, after all. Things were just a little more gray to him. This note wasn’t so much an instruction as it was a complex amount of numbers crammed onto the tiny square. Now Jim was clearly trying to throw him off with math.   


Sebastian patiently pressed the button for the roof and followed it up with the code; the answer to the math problem. Yes. Nineteen. Very funny. The lift began to move without a sound to the short distance above Jim’s penthouse. The doors opened again and Shere Khan hurried out to sit by Jim’s feet. There was another man standing by, apparently having brought a box with him. Sebastian turned his ears towards them more curious than suspicious.   


“Took you long enough,” Jim complained, motioning the stranger out of the way. Sebastian decided that he wasn’t all that important and quietly trotted toward the criminal. He motioned to the much more important object. The tiger’s breath nearly caught in excitement. Without a doubt, or need for an explanation, Sebastian was instantly aware of the rifle. It was just  _any_ rifle, though. It was a military grade type seven-c sniper rifle, the very same he had been trained on and later used on a daily basis.    


“How did you get that?” Sebastian nearly demanded. He hadn’t meant to, of course, but it wasn’t like the military just handed out their special, species specific guns to criminals. Jim smiled contently, though by this point, Sebastian was getting the feeling that he didn’t smile because he was happy and he didn’t frown because he was sad. He just did it to, well, do it.    


“I may consult with arms dealers,” he laughed. ‘Consult with’ translating to ‘own’. ‘May’ translating to ‘do’. Sebastian smirked a little. He never thought he’d hold a gun again in his life. He had to assume it was for him. It would be awkward for anyone else to handle it.    


“Go on then.  _Touch_ it.”    


_Yes_ .  Sebastian didn’t need any convincing and he didn’t need anymore orders. He heaved the weapon up into his hands, the weight instantly assuring him it was loaded. It was perfect. It fit in his hands, awkward as they were, perfectly. He never thought he’d hold a gun again. He was suddenly aware of how much he would have missed it, how much he did miss it.   


“Shoot.”    


_Yes_ .  Sebastian had two close range targets (three counting Jim) and he was still sure that Jim didn’t want him shooting the cat. It was mostly instinct, however, and little to no thought. The unnamed, space wasting man was the unfortunate target. The rifle was silent. Sebastian was wrong. This was a better model than his own. Better model for a better life.    


“I can here you purring from over here,” Jim laughed at him.    


“This. What is it for?” the tiger questioned, but his usual suspicions were lost on knowing the answer to his own question. To shoot people. Healthy people more specifically. He could get in a lot of trouble for this. Fuck, he could get in a lot of trouble for being in the same room as a loaded gun. Of course, he was in trouble anyways and regardless of what he did not, if they ever caught him, he would be right back where he started; waiting for death.   


“Why don’t you try it out properly?” the little man suggested with a knowing smirk. He motioned Sebastian to the ledge, ignoring the dead man at their feet. Sebastian followed easily. Jim motioned a lazy hand out into the great stretch of the sight thy held from the impossibly tall building. The Infected’s tail swished around with no reserve, a massive creature ready to pounce on its unsuspecting prey.   


“Find me something interesting,” Jim instructed. Not very specific at all, was he? Sebastian took up his new scope, only having to adjust it slightly to his vision and went to work. The streets were flooded with meaningless people and things. Everyone just carried on their lives like normal, not ever suspecting and not ever knowing. To think he could strike any one of them dead in the middle of their thinking, their lives, and there would be no more- it was thrilling. Shooting someone would be boring, though. They would kill themselves eventually without his help. No- he wanted to cause them as much panic and distress as possible. The likely answer would be to kill one and watch them scatter and flee for their lives. They did that anyways.   


Second; cause a reason for chaos and bring out the ‘heroic’ side of average citizens. A fire, or explosion of some sort would easily do that, but as much as people would like to believe, there weren’t nearly as many flammable substances that a single bullet could ignite. A mere car accident, even with something as big as a bus, wouldn’t do much damage to anything.    
Sebastian decided on the third. He took aim, taking a moment to compensate for wind and distance, and paused obediently.   


“Permission to fire.”   


“Ooh,” Jim nearly purred back. “You really are a lovely soldier, aren’t you? Fire away.” Sebastian shot and then he sat back to admire his handiwork. Jim nudged him over a little and the tiger let him, allowing the man to view his lovely shot through his scope.    


“Interesting,” the healthy man murmured as he watched the people below start to gather like flies. “Usually they go straight for the most important person they can find. Police or political figures. Or entertainment.” Jim giggled as though his ‘entertainment’ was not the same as what the public considered ‘entertainment’.    


“Sorry,” Sebastian apologized. “I thought you said ‘interesting’. Not stupid.” He could have done that and then had to deal with the investigation and those stupid search dogs they would doubtedly bring in when they realized they wouldn’t be able to solve it with their eyes alone. Plus, just because it was rare didn’t mean there weren’t Infected in the crowd. In the middle of the day like this, there was a slim chance someone could pinpoint him if he made too much of a commotion. People were rather fond of their ‘models’.    


“A message with no message.” Jim smiled a creepy smile. Sebastian realized it was far more real than any of his smiles so far. He was amused.    


“They’ll think and theorize and drive themselves made. They’ll probably insist it’s nothing, but the public will fuel that it’s something. They’ll make their own enemies and build their own monsters. A bold statement means everything to those who know nothing. What is it they say? The blind leading the blind.” He swished his tail around, content with himself. He couldn’t kill them all. He couldn’t make them all pay for what they did to him. Some of them didn’t even know what they did to people like him, but ignorance was no excuse. He couldn’t get to them all, but he could sure as hell make them crash in on themselves.    


“Oh Sebby,” Sebby? ‘Sebby’ wasn’t sure if he liked that. He wasn’t  _actually_ a pet. Not that this man knew that. Or cared. “I think I have some business trimming to do,” Jim promised him alluringly. Sebastian swiftly packed up his new toy and tossed the bag over his shoulder. Again, his new ‘owner’ motioned him to come along so domestically, patting his thigh in a very obvious ‘come hither’ movement. Sebastian offered a small glance over his shoulder. Even from this high up, he could see the crowd forming around the statue.   


The bronze statue with a brand new bullet lodged in the back of its neck. Perhaps not all of them knew, but some of them did. Some of them were completely and utterly aware of the precious spot where every human began its life as an Infected. Sebastian scratched the base of his skull absently, though the needle mark where the cure had been injected had since long faded away. Bloody humans. Sebastian was glad he wasn’t one of them anymore.


	2. Sebastian Moran is a Hunter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Super violent like whoa. It’s Sebastian Moran trying to impress Jim Moriarty, so that should give you a clue. Not too detailed, but still fairly gruesome. This also happens to be my favorite chapter.

Bring Me Back A Tiger

“When a man wants to murder a tiger, he calls it sport; when the tiger wants to murder him, he calls it ferocity.” George Bernard Shaw

Chapter Two: Sebastian Moran is a Hunter

  


  
Jim was, apparently, serious about trimming his work force down. Sebastian watched him send out a single text and only a half hour later, he followed the short man out into the middle of nowhere. He liked his building, though. It was abandoned and dark, but not completely dark. There were plenty of places for him to hop onto and hide in. An urban jungle by all means and it was filled with a dozen people.  
  
“These are my workers, I suppose you’d call them,” Jim murmured. Sebastian followed him curiously, not completely sure what he was supposed to be doing. That and Jim clearly liked having all of his pet’s attention. The group of men watched him with mixed emotions. They all clearly knew what he was even if none of them had actually seen one up close before. They all looked the same; disposable.  
  
“What is that?” one of them finally demanded in what could only be distrust and paranoia. Sebastian was too used to it to be offended.  
  
“You’re fired,” Jim hummed instead of an answer and curtly sprayed the man in the face with a spray bottle. He sputtered and backed away, but didn’t dare retaliate. The rest of the group suddenly went on the defensive, prepared to save themselves and their jobs. Sebastian had lost his train of thought, however. He didn’t know what was in the bottle, but he wanted it and he wanted it now. He adjusted himself to pounce on the scented man, pupils blown wide and his whiskers twitched with hypersensitivity.  
  
“Wait,” Jim ordered and Sebastian reluctantly waited. “You. What do you do?” The man in question quickly rattled off his job in as few words as possible. It was still too many and their boss waved him silent.  
  
“Ah, boring. You’re fired.” Again, the dismissed worker was sprayed heavily with the unknown liquid. While it remained a mystery to the healthy humans, it drove Sebastian absolutely wild. His tail lashed around wildly as he did his best to focus on Jim and what he was doing. It was getting difficult.  
  
“You’re the-” Jim wasn’t nearly as good as keeping track of them as they were themselves. He hired people to do stuff like that, after all.  
  
“Accountant! Just the accountant.”  
  
“Accountant. Can you account, Sebastian?” He sniffed curiously. Sebastian didn’t dare remove his eyes from his target and the man was becoming unsettled by it. He should. Sebastian wanted it right now. He was still sober enough to answer a direct question, more or less.  
  
“Nineteen,” the tiger huffed.  
  
“Fired.” Jim continued around the little group and when he was finished, he returned to his tiger. He scratched Sebastian’s neck and ears, earning a loud, over excited purr from the beast. He could jump soon, he just knew it.  
  
“Everyone who’s not fired can leave. You’re safe for today.” Out of the fourteen people, three of them left. They didn’t know how lucky they were right then. The remaining eleven stood uneasily. Jim was not someone you wanted to have ‘fire’ you. Jim yanked his pet down a little and Sebastian more or less followed the motion, still antsy to get to that scent. The little man pulled a band over his forehead, tucking it out of the way of his round ears and Sebastian glanced cross-eyed up at it momentarily. He didn’t currently care what it was, however.  
  
“As for the rest of you.” Jim patted the tiger heavily on the back. “If you live, you win and you may keep your job. If you die, you lose and I’ll let Sebastian into your homes."  
  
"O-our homes?"  
  
"Your friends. Your family. Everyone you're close to. I'll let Sebastian here slaughter them. Just because he hates you so much. Hates what you are. Who you are. What you did to him." Jim laughed, scratching the creature down his back and earning a small shake of the tail.  
  
"I didn't do anything to him!" one of them objected. Sebastian changed targets. That one first.  
  
"Oh, but you did. Not logically, sure. But Sebby's a little stupid. He's just an animal, after all. Besides, it's fun for me. How long? Five seconds?"  
  
"Ten," Sebastian answered. Jim shrugged his sleeve back a little to view his watch.  
  
"Risky. I like it. Ten. Nine. Eight." He began counting down and the little group lunged into action to escape. Sebastian could smell them all and hear everything. He had the clear advantage of being bigger and trained better plus the lighting and urban setting made him the clear winner. He gave them the advantage of a head start and whatever weapons they happened to be carrying. It wouldn't be enough.  
  
"Go," Jim purred low and slow.  
  
Sebastian was off like a greyhound out of the gates. He had no strategy, another advantage he was giving the stupid little group and lunged at the slowest, weakest little man. The tiger pinned him to the floor with a heavy thump. He parted his lips ever so slightly, taking in the wonderfully stimulating scent. Sebastian's tail fluffed out. He was high as fuck.  
  
The tiger let the little mousy man go and he scrambled away desperately. Then, Sebastian darted off in front of him, playing with him; pulling him by the metaphorical tail. One heavy slash of the paw torn the man's chest wide open with a series of perpendicular cuts. This one was boring. Sebastian killed him quickly and abandoned the body to go after the other ten.  
  
A loud thud echoed through the warehouse and light shone in through it. A little bit of light? That wasn't going to help them. In fact, it made it so much easier for him. Sebastian took off after the noise, stripping from his suit as he went. The bloody tatters were left for rubbish and he found it so much easier to move. They were waiting for him at the top of the stairs. A group of three was smarter than one, he supposed. Sebastian snuck under the light, under the stairs and around the outer wall. It was too bad he was just as smart as he was big. He found a rusted support and threw himself against it with a heavy 'thud'. The support creaked and moaned. He did it again and again until it broke and then he worked on the third and the fourth support beam.  
  
"What's it doing?" Ha! Whispering. Funny little pristies.   
  
"Come out! Come out! I can smell you! I can hear you! I will kill you!" Sebastian cried loudly, watching the figures move and scramble to locate him in the alternating streams of light and dark. They were only disorienting themselves and he knew it. He dashed up the stairs and they shot blindly at his form. His stripes made it impossible for them to tell him from the dancing light. He pounced forward and the structure creaked again, louder. Then he dashed off again, into the dark. The stairs crumpled down slowly at first, then came crashing down in a heap of metal and bodies. Sebastian casually approached them, wounded and disoriented.  
  
"Poor little Pristies. Look what you did." He went about disarming them, unloading their weapons and throwing them skillfully out the window they'd broken.  
  
"Try again." Sebastian tore one of them from the wreckage and threw him viciously against the brick wall.  
  
"Run,” he roared excitedly. "Run, run, run! Never stop running! Never catch your breath! Never rest!" The other two took off, limping away on wounded legs and tripping over their own feet. Sebastian threw his new toy against the wall again, amused by how light he really was. The man only lasted one more throw before Sebastian realized he was dead and became bored.  
  
The next one was hiding. Smart except for the small fact that Sebastian could smell him. He ripped the metal door clean off its rusty hinges, exposing the man cowering inside. The tiger tore him out of his hiding spot and onto the ground where he skidded on his stomach and tried to scramble to his feet. Sebastian hopped onto his back with a purposeful force, crushing his chest with all of his weight.  
  
"The lung's the best part, you know. I wonder if it's considered cannibalism when they don't consider me human." This one was boring now. Sebastian left him to blubber on his own blood and suffocate on his crushed lungs. That was three down and eight to go. He returned to the wounded pair, following the open wounds and the lovely scent that drove him to continue the chase. He wanted to play! It stimulates his senses and drove him wild and he didn't know why.  
  
He found them in a tight spot between two empty silos, attempting to tend to their wounds. Sebastian knew he wouldn't fit between the opening and temporarily abandoned them in search for something to run them out with. Or through. Through worked too. He returned to the wreckage and picked up a good sized piece of railing. That worked. He returned and as he guessed, they thought they were safe. Sebastian jammed the post into the opening, catchin a limb and earning a cry of pain.  
"And I gave you such a good chance, too. If I'm an animal, you're a maggot." He jammed it in again, this time catching the unfortunate man in the face.  
  
"Survived two of three, maybe you'll 'win'," Sebastian teased the live man as he yanked his dead friend through the gap with an awkward movement.  
  
"You'll bleed to death soon." He laughed, stalking away again and giving him just the smallest bit of hope. Not too much. Too much was overkill.  
  
"Seven! Seven left!" he heard Jim sing from the front door. "Who's lucky enough to slay the mighty tiger! Slower, Mr. Bengal Tiger! It's no fun if you kill them all within the hour!"  
"Sorry!" Sebastian called back as he prowled off after his next victim. "I keep forgetting you Pristies are so fragile!"   
  
He started down the hall of the building, dragging his nose over the machinery. The scent was fainter now, but not by much. They were trying to wash it off. Good strategy, but clearly they didn't know anything about the Infected.  
  
"Over here! Here kitty, kitty, kitty!" The voice made Sebastian's ears prick and he glanced toward the man. A trap, clearly. He ignored him and continued after another target.  
  
"Got your balls over here, kitty! Come on ya big pussy!" The man tried to goad him on, but his attempts were feeble. Sebastian was goaded everyday in the military by his Trainers. This wasn't going to work on him.   
  
"Shit! He's going the other way." He listened to the group rustle around in confusion before he was being yelled at again.  
  
"Come here, Sebby! Come on! Smell that?! Smell that fresh, fresh blood?! Come here and you can have all you want!" Well now they were just desperate. Still, he continued along to the offices. A lone man hid under one of the desks. Sebastian kicked it over and the man surprised him in the leg with a knife. It didn't hurt nearly as much as the human thought it would. It was also stupidly  tiny. Sebastian yanked it free and threw it with an incredible force through the drywall. Then he roared ferociously and the man took off.  
  
Sebastian dashed after him into the hall and chased him down straight down the way he came. Now he'd show them how to disarm a trap with skill.  
  
"He's coming! Shit!" The healthy human on the other end of the wall tried desperately to motioned the one being chased out of the way. Sebastian made sure he had nowhere else to go, though, and ran him straight into their trap. To their benefit of a doubt, it was a well laid trap. The healthy tripped the wire and the heavy tarp of bricks crashed down in a massive heap. He might not have been dead, but he would be out for a while. It would have given them long enough to kill him if Sebastian had been stupid enough to walk into it.  
  
"Anthony tripped it! He's coming!" The healthy human couldn't run faster than him, but Sebastian allowed him to go ahead. He could at least make it a little fair. They packed into a room; five of them. He listened outside the door and they made it clear they were armed. If he went in the door, he’d quickly become a target. It was best to bottleneck them. Sebastian darted past the door swiftly, making them uneasy and anxious. He beat on the wall a few times and rushed past again. Then he paused. They were anxious, trying to decipher what he was going to do. Sebastian dashes past a third time and one of them finally jumped the trigger.  
  
He roared loudly, mimicking agony and pain. Sebastian didn't wait in the hall, though. He slipped into one of the other rooms and continued to fake the noises of a wounded man-beast. They whispered under him.  
  
"I think I got him."  
  
"Go check."  
  
"I'm not going out there!"  
  
"He's wounded, moron. Just go and put a bullet in his brain." Finally, one of them came to check. The nervous one. Sebastian was waiting, though, and when the man shoved his gun into the open door, the tiger grabbed it and yanked him in. He wrapped his teeth around the tender throat and sharply tore it out. He disassembled his gun and dragged the body out, leaving a trail of blood. He tossed the body into the room with his buddies.  
  
"How long do you think you can stay in that room?" Sebastian purred, giving them room to make a new plan. He slipped back onto the floor to check the bloody one. He'd worked himself out of the spot and past his dead friend. Sebastian scented him out into the loading docks. He was hiding but in a much better spot. Sebastian clawed at the back of the old truck, but it was built tough and heavy. He wouldn't be able to get into it like this.  
  
"You'll still bleed to death! But I like the challenge." Sebastian dug around the mess of broken metal, old rubbish, and some broken bottles. He found a toolbox, rusted but usable. He pulled up a crate before the back of the truck and had himself a seat while he began to work at the lock. It didn't take him long to break it off from the outside. Sebastian pulled the door up and open and crawled inside to the man staring at him angrily. He was already pale and his leg twisted at an angle. Sebastian grabbed the wounded limb between his bloody maw and dragged him out weakly struggling. The man was pulled through the mess and back out into the open warehouse floor. The tiger threw him down lightly and held him down at the shoulder with a heavy paw. The healthy human screamed as Sebastian tore at his leg, dislocating it first, then tearing it off completely. He was unconscious in seconds and then left to die.  
  
Sebastian returned to the little group of four. They'd split up by the sound of it. They had no sense of loyalty. Together they had twice the chance of survival than before. Now they were going to die little meek deaths. Two had stupidly remained in the offices, making very easy targets of them. Unfortunately, they were unarmed and the office held few items for them to use as weapons. The tiger prowled along the hall, ear to the wall.  
  
“Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck fuck. Come on, think, think, think. What do we know about those things? Anything. Do we know anything at all?”  
  
“We’re going to die. That’s what I know. We’re going to die and then they’re going after my wife. My wife doesn’t even know I do this shit. We’re gonna die.”  
  
“Not helpful! He’s just a man.”  
  
“Fuck you ‘he’s just a man’! Have you seen him!”  
  
“Keep your bloody voice down.”  
  
“He’s a monster. That’s what he is. And he’s not going to stop until we’re dead. That’s what they do. They train them to kill and not stop killing until the order is given. And Moriarty isn’t going to give that order. Give it up. Maybe if we play dead, he’ll leave us alone.”  
  
“I wouldn’t count on it,” Sebastian purred into the door. The two scrambled for cover, ducking behind an overturned desk as if it would help. The tiger hopped over them easily and was faced with two marred and dusty men. He slashed the man the left with a row of claws, tearing his face open with four clean cuts. The healthy gripped his face but didn’t make a noise. Boring. Sebastian took care of him quickly and broke his neck against the edge of the table he was hiding behind. The other made a mad dash for the door and Sebastian launched after him. The man cracked his forehead on the floor and the tiger finished the job by sinking teeth into the back of his neck and crushing it with thousand pound bite.  
  
Then there was two.  
  
He found the last pair in the manager’s office. It was made mostly of windows and they seemed to have gotten the lights working enough for them to see. From the window he could see they had blocked the door with everything they could find. Sebastian didn’t bother finding another door into the office, though. There were windows and he could see his prey quivering in the cold of the abandoned warehouse draft. One of them had twisted his ankle, but Sebastian already knew neither of them would be escaping.  
  
The tiger banged his fist on the window and a low ‘thump’ echoed around them. Safety glass. Smart. Sebastian thumped away a few more times, more to scare them than to break it. He dragged his claws over it and sniffed it loudly.  
  
“Let me in,” he growled lowly. The man laughed.  
  
“So you can kill us? I think not.”  
  
“I’ll get in anyways,” Sebastian purred, throwing himself against the glass again. “I’ll get in and I’ll break your bloody legs. Hora incerta, mors certa.” The tiger curled his lips up infectiously, doing his deed of making them nervous.  
  
“W-what does that mean?” the wounded one questioned reluctantly. Human curiosity was such a wonderful thing.  
  
“Hour uncertain, death certain,” teased the animal to the caged men. The wounded one was quick to point his gun, but his ‘friend’ stopped him.  
  
“Don’t! Shoot and you’ll break the glass. That’s what he wants.”  
  
“You have to come out. You know that. I’m stronger than you. I’m bigger than you. I can stay awake longer than you and keep warmer better than you. How long can you stay in that box, Pristies? One day? Two? I’ll just wait here, feeding on your co-workers. Playing with what I don’t eat. You don’t have to shoot me. Shoot yourself. Shoot your friend. It’ll be mercy. I’ll break your legs. Chew on your arm, your side, your face. I’m very good at keeping you alive.” Sebastian scrapped his claws against the window again, leaving a streak of blood on the window and letting them see the sharp talons and the thirty teeth, bloody and ready for more work.  
  
“Don’t listen to him. He’s trying to get in your head. He’s a sick fuck just like Moriarty. No wonder we’re being replaced.”  
  
“Then I’ll go to your homes. Your wife, or husband, and daughters and sons. Maybe your brother’s staying with you. Or your aunt. Or maybe you’re taking care of your grandparents. I won’t kill them as quickly as I did you. I got a little frisky with you. I’ll have my beastly way with your lovers first. Make them nice and round. Praegnans. Pregnant. Maybe make them bare me a child first. I hear that’s how you Pristies pass on your genes. Then I’ll slit her throat.” Sebastian drew a horizontal line with the remaining blood. The two men were already pale, but he continued.  
  
“All four point seven liters of it right into the bathtub. Then I’ll drown your children in it. Do you think I care that they’re children?” The tiger smacked the glass, making them both jump. “That they’re small? Fragile? I don’t. I don’t care if you’re a man, or a woman, or a child, or an elder, or pregnant, or wounded, or Pristy or Infected. Indiscriminate. I guess that makes me better than you. So. I’ll tell you one more time. Let me in and I’ll make sure your families don’t suffer.”  
  
“He’s lying.”  
  
“Yeah. I was,” Sebastian huffed back. He touched a claw to his tongue momentarily before taking it to the edge of the window. The old seal that held it in place peeled away slowly and easily. Their plan hadn’t exactly been bullet proof before this, but they were so close. He grasped either side of the glass with his claws and removed it from the fame, giving himself a clear view to his prey. He cleared the half-wall with a single bound and the wounded man hastily fired at him. Sebastian laughed.  
  
“You picked up an empty gun? You stupid cunt.” He snatched the weapon away from him, ignoring the escapee for the time being. Sebastian hit the healthy in the face with it. He went down instantly and attempted to play dead. The tiger nearly laughed again. That never actually worked. It was too bad they wouldn’t be able to spread the word. Sebastian pretended, though. He turned back to the window he’d ‘opened’ and picked up the thick piece of glass again. He heard the man’s breath hitch. The tiger carried it back and with a single heave, slammed it down cleanly on the man, decapitating him without any effort whatsoever.  
  
So there was one.  
  
Sebastian exited the manager’s room and his lovely wreckage and followed after the man. It was easy when he was the only one left. The warehouse door was open now and artificial light shone in. He could tell it was from the car’s headlights and the shadow proved that his last man was outside.  
  
“I made it! I got out alive!” The man breathed in relief. “I’m alive! You keep him away from my family, you little bastard!” And Jim was still here by the sound of it.   
  
“Oh. I didn’t say ‘if you got out alive’,” Jim giggled loudly. He was clearly having himself a good time. That was great, because so was Sebastian.  
  
“What?” the man demanded loudly. The tiger waited just inside the door, tail swishing around in anticipation.   
  
“Do you think he’ll stop just because you’re outside?”  
  
“You said if I live, I keep my job and my family!”   
  
“Yes. I did. The brilliant thing about Infected is, they won’t stop. We can’t have two winners can we now?” Jim assured him. Sebastian pounced out from the warehouse, catching his prey around the shoulder with heavy fangs and bringing them both to the ground. He stopped himself, though, looking up to the short man watched him amusedly.   
  
“Would you care for the last?”   
  
“So thoughtful. But that would be letting you off easy. Ten fairly unique killings. Running out, aren’t you?” His new owner mused casually. Sebastian whipped his tail around. He wanted unique. He picked himself up and the dazed man by his shoulders. He threw the man’s face into the car window and he bounced off forcefully. The tiger wandered back inside and after a few minutes, located what he was looking for. He returned with his rope and gave it a few pulls to make sure it would stand up to the test. The tiger tied a noose in the end and snagged it around the remaining healthy’s neck. Sebastian tossed the other end over the signpost. A firm pull hoisted the man up by the neck and another knot kept him there where he could slowly suffocate.  
  
“Now that’s lovely,” Jim complimented. Sebastian huffed slightly, but pleased. This was fun. He liked this. It was so much better than the restrictions of the military. He’d probably have been scolded for playing with them.  
  
“What was that stuff?” the tiger questioned, approaching the smaller man.   
  
“Catnip.” The simple answer came back. Sebastian pricked his ears instantly. Catnip? On second thought, he was essentially a huge cat. That was a little ego damaging. The tiger shrugged a little but nodded.   
  
“I like it,” he admitted. Jim grabbed a handful of the fur on his chest and yanked him forward. Sebastian lowered his ears a little. He wasn’t sure if he liked that, though. Jim examined his bloody teeth and smiled a toothy smile of his own. Then, he startled the tiger, far more than any of the others could, with a very simple, very forceful kiss. Sebastian had no idea what to do.   
  
“You’ve never been kissed before,” Jim noted teasingly.   
  
“Not willingly,” the Infected grunted back.   
  
“Willingly?” he answered in an amused fashion. The Bengal Tiger wasn’t sure how that was amusing.   
  
“She gave me mixed signals.”  
  
“I guess I have to teach you something. I can’t expect you to be perfect right off the bat. Well, I can, but when am I going to find another nearly perfect Bengal Tiger sniper like you?”  
  
“Never,” Sebastian assured him.   
  
“You’ve earned yourself a meal.”  
  
“Good. I fucking hate kibble.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pristy/Pristies: A degrading term for healthy humans coming from the Latin word 'prist' meaning 'his former'.
> 
> Latin: The language the Infected are taught to speak all over the word. It's considered a common language of the military and opens the gates to wider communication between allies.


	3. Chapter 3

Bring Me Back A Tiger

 

“ Oh, the tiger will love you. There is no sincerer love than the love of food. ” George Bernard Shaw

Chapter Three: Domestic

  
If Sebastian had known that winning meant three hours with a stranger measuring his junk, he wouldn't have been nearly as happy to win. Despite the ridiculous hour of the night, they were 'always open for Mr. Moriarty. Always, Sirs'. He washed off the excess blood and was put up on display for the older man. Sebastian wanted to bite the seamster, but decided that he would rather get this over with without giving the man a reason to stab him with sewing needles. Jim sat close by, amused by his phone, but otherwise indifferent to everything else. 

  
"God. I love his face when he realizes you could have gotten in all along." He was watching the video from the camera the madman had strapped to his tiger's face, then. Sebastian grunted mildly, making the older man pinning up his sleeves jump again. He had worked with Infected before, he was kind enough to inform the uncaring tiger, but clearly not one as large and terrifying as Sebastian. 

  
"I don't like suits," Sebastian complained again, as if he would be listened to this time. He wasn't. Admittedly, the fabric stretched so he could break into a run if he needed to, but just barely. He'd probably fall on his face often before he got use to being in this thing. He had the eerie feeling he was going to be put in a tie, too. This was terrible.

  
“You don’t have to like it. You just have to look good,” Jim purred, putting his phone away finally. The seamster stepped away and made a circle around him. Sebastian watched him threateningly. He was stupid to think it was okay to circle a huge predator. The man nodded proudly and pulled at a few places on the tiger’s new, perfectly fitted suit. Sebastian swished his tail around in irritation, ears folded back as he looked at himself in the mirror. Maybe he would have looked a little more normal if he were wearing shoes. No amount of pestering from Jim would get him into any kind of shoes. His paws were perfectly fine, thank you. He just looked like a really furry lawyer. He didn’t understand the point of this. 

  
“Now you look presentable,” Jim complemented, reaching up to scratch the beast’s mane and behind his ears. Sebastian let out a heavy huff, but decided that it wasn’t that big of a deal. He moved around a little, making sure he was still fully posable while Jim made sure his suit stayed in perfect condition. Though he didn’t like it, the man had done a great job. Jim patted out his lapels and smirked at him. 

  
“Charge up another dozen, would you? Give Sebby here a proper wardrobe.” 

“I’d rather not,” Sebastian answered quickly.

“Not your choice,” Jim sang back. The tiger decided to stop arguing his case. At least they were clothes. He'd get some real clothes on another time. He would still need everyday clothes and hopefully pants. Even he found it uncomfortable to wear trousers without pants. Especially well fitting suit trousers. 

Finally, this torture was done and Jim’s personal car took them back to the rooftop flat. It was the middle of the night and the town was still alive with people. Sebastian made a small circle down either side of the street, just examining the new surroundings of his new home. ‘His’ being the important part of that. There was a young woman walking her tiny dog and loudly chatting away on her phone, which Sebastian didn’t mind at all. He couldn’t keep everyone away from his home all the time. What he did mind, though, was her stupid little dog peeing on his tree. The tiger promptly approached her and she stupidly didn’t notice him at all. 

A loud, ear drum breaking roar changed that. She screamed and took off as fast as her heels allowed her. She left her dog behind without a thought and Sebastian batted it into traffic with a swat of a paw. Stupid dog. He hated tiny creatures. And this was his bloody tree. Sebastian raked his claws down the trunk of the tree, ripping away pieces of bark and leaving deep gashes in it. His tree. Then he returned to Jim’s side, the man as amused as ever. They took the lift back up to the flat with no conversation. There wasn’t anything to talk about. Sebastian worked his tongue against his blood tinted teeth, licking them clean and doing a great impression of a dog with peanut butter in its mouth. Jim stared at him, but Sebastian wasn’t sure if it was bemusement or amusement. 

They were, like before, met with the little Shere Khan. It rubbed against Moriarty's leg and the man picked it up gladly. Sebastian snorted. It was a huge cat to be picked up by such a small man. He hoped there was food. The tiger followed Jim and his stupid cat thing through the flat and into the decent sized kitchen. Shere Khan was dropped on the table and Sebastian seated himself. Much to his dismay, the stupid thing began to clean him, licking his face and beard and clearly not caring that it was blood on his face. It was probably used to blood. Sebastian growled at it and like its owner, it ignored him. Honestly, even the cat.   
He lost Shere Khan's attention, thankfully, when Jim began opening cans. Sebastian glanced to him a little and watched him fill a fancy plate with fancy tuna. Of course his cat ate tuna that probably rang double digits in price off an expensive plate. Clearly real animals were treated better than not quite animals. Then Jim dropped the dish in front of him. 

"What the fuck is this?" 

"Fish," Jim answered simply, smirking a sort of smirk that made Sebastian want to bite him in the face again. Sebastian glared at him. The smell of tuna wavered into his nose, though, and he was less apprehensive. It smelled pretty good and he hadn't had fish in years, canned or otherwise. Jim rubbed him behind the ears and the tiger huffed. 

"You're lucky I'm starving,” he scoffed, starting on the chunks of flaky fish. Jim chuckled. 

"You're lucky I like you." Which couldn't have been good for the tiger. He chose to ignore it, though, too tired and hungry to deal with crazy. Shere Khan helped itself to his bowl, nuzzling its tiny face beside his to catch nibbles of the fish. Sebastian pushed it off the table with a single paw, making the tiny thing hiss and promptly stalk off. He wasn't fond of sharing his things, especially food. Jim giggled. The tiger could hear his new little owner, of which he was getting less reluctant of, moving around in the open, connected living room. He returned with two little glasses and Sebastian picked his head up. It smelled almost as wonderful as the fish; alcohol. He'd been seventeen last time he had a drink. Jim made a point of insisting it was for him. Sebastian nodded, gladly accepting the bronze liquid. 

"God, your hands are stupid." Jim laughed, pulling at one of the tiger's thumbs and nearly causing him to drop the glass. 

"They're so ineffective. Surely not all of our troops have hands like these,” he insisted, amused by the very thought. Sebastian took a drink of the booze, enjoying the burn that scratched his throat on the way down. 

"They don't. And they're not ineffective. If they were, I would have had surgery." His hands were perfectly posable and despite his off placed thumb, he could work them just as well as Jim did. Sebastian continued with his food, allowing the little healthy to play absently with one of his paws again. 

"I had no idea. Perhaps I should do some more work with the Infected." Jim licked his lips, pleased by the idea. Sebastian wasn't as sure. That sounded like a pretty bad idea, actually. If Jim started gathering Infected, it was likely to attracted the attention of the military and no amount of Sebastian's could hold off the full force of the army. They were serious about keeping their secrets. 

"Good luck,” the tiger scoffed. 

"I can see why Sherlock picked one up, though," Jim continued. Sebastian wasn't sure who Sherlock was, but he knew the man was important. Out of all of the people Jim had 'introduced' him to, the short man hadn't known any of their names or even showed a habit of trying to remember their names. They were just people. Sebastian would remember the name for later. He licked his bowl clean, finished his drink, and cleaned his face with a quiet purr. A good nights rest and he would be ready for whatever else Jim was going to throw at him or, just as likely, whatever Jim was going to throw him into. 

Jim disappeared and the tiger assumed it was into his own room for the night. Sebastian trotted off to his new, open and comfortable room with a small flick of the tail. He carefully undressed from his new suit and hung it in the closet before turning to his bed. He tossed himself onto the soft mattress, thankfully devoid of the cat, and made himself comfortable. It was firm, but not like the beds he was used to sleeping on. Or the ground. He had no use for the covers, but relished in the plush feeling of them. He sighed in content, pleased by today's change of events. He had been on death road and now he was in a luxury flat with a luxury bed and an owner with a habit of getting things killed. Sebastian couldn't have been happier. 

He fell asleep swiftly, having taught himself a long time ago how to instantly sleep. Sebastian awoke some time in the night, or morning really, to find Shere Khan sleeping in a ball on his chest. Sensing he was awake, the cat purred minutely. Sebastian huffed, but allowed the cat to remain on his furry chest. It was lucky he didn't move in his sleep otherwise it would have been squashed. He went back to sleep only to awaken again a few hours later. This time, he had a cat on his chest and a Jim curled into his side. Sebastian had no idea what the man was doing there, but he didn't think too hard on it. Jim was warm. Sebastian went back to sleep with the slight worry he'd wake up with someone else in his bed. Thankfully, he didn't. Come afternoon, his bed was thoroughly devoid of both the cat and Jim. The clock told him it was well past half one, and Sebastian reminded himself that it was in the afternoon and the healthy's clocks were stupid.   
He stretched himself out and rolled onto his stomach. There was a bitter smell wafering through the flat and Sebastian hurriedly pulled on a pair of pants before going off to find what it was. The closer he got, the worse the smell got to the point he he actually had to cover his nose. That was terrible. 

"What the fuck are you doing?" Sebastian demanded, nose pinched between two fingers to keep the smell out. Jim glanced over his shoulder a little. 

"Cooking,” he answered nonchalantly. Oh god. 

"Well stop," Sebastian deadpanned back. Jim set a plate on the table and the tiger cautiously approached it. It was terrible was what it was. 

"You did say you liked the lung." The little healthy laughed, obviously not as bothered by the smell as Sebastian was. He wasn't sure what the human was expecting, but he wasn't eating that and he made it painfully clear when he deposited it into the garbage disposal. Jim scowled. 

"Okay. You. You're not allowed-" Sebastian paused momentarily, remember his meal just the night before. "Near the kitchen,” he finished up smoothy. 

"Where's the other one?" Lungs did come in pairs, after all. Jim watched him with the same curiosity he did before. The man probably didn't expect him to be able to cook, but Sebastian could do that, too. He motioned to the cold box and the tiger went to work, fruitlessly trying to ignore the bitter scent of burnt muscle. How done did he think it had to be? Jim watched him over (under literally) his shoulder as the mighty beast cut and seasoned and pan fried the dark purple meat. He served it with eggs and toast and pointed places a plate before his owner. 

"I'm impressed," Jim purred. Shere Khan hopped onto the table to insert himself into the interest. Sebastian scoffed. 

"After what you made, that's not much of an accomplishment,” he assured the man, sitting across from him and gladly helped himself to his meal. It was better than canned tuna, that was for sure. Jim poked at it a little, but didn't seem the slightest hesitant to try it. The little cat thing ate off of his plate and unlike Sebastian, Jim let it. 

"Human lung. Not bad," Jim admitted. Sebastian wondered if he has ever had a decent home made meal. Probably not. "What else can you do?"

"Anything I can't do, I can learn to," Sebastian assured him between bites of his first good meal in years. It was delicious and the tiger decided at the very moment that he would stand by Jim no matter what. 

"Explosives?" the little man tested with a certain air of giddiness. 

"I have knowledge of over one hundred and fifty stable compounds and can work with them easily. I can disarm unstable compounds without injury. Or in your case, arm them,” answered the tiger calmly. 

"Bombs," Jim volleyed back. 

"Capable of building, arming, and disarming eighty two percent of known detonators," Sebastian assured him without any hesitation whatsoever. Jim paused a moment, using the drawn out time to childishly place a forkful of food against his tongue. 

"Knives,” he continued on. Sebastian had the feeling this wasn’t a new conversation to him. 

"Short blades, long blades, swords." However, it was completely possible he was the only one up to standards. 

"Guns." Jim adjusted himself on his seat and Sebastian swished his tail around curiously. The healthy was getting excited and naturally Sebastian assumed it was a game. A game that he liked and was winning if he did say so. 

"I'm a sniper,” the Infected reminded him instantly. 

"Languages." 

"Four. Latin, German, Russian, and French. English is clearly a given."

"Chemical compounds." 

"Took advanced chemistry in high school. Plus extensive training in the military."

"Strategy." Jim was definitely getting closer to him. Sebastian responded by mimicking his movement. 

"Military grade A sniper."

"Computers." And that’s where Sebastian lost. 

"Minimum, unfortunately. Not incompetent, I probably know more than the average citizen. I was only taught what would be useful to me." Computers weren’t a common thing around the Infected. There were certain groups that were trained in that area specifically, but it wasn’t common knowledge. When needed, Sebastian could get in, get what he needed, and get out, but a lot of that wasn’t specific to what Jim was referring to. In many cases, Sebastian was only required to bring the physical system or more likely, sneak in another Infected that knew what they were doing. Jim didn’t appear too take it too hard. 

“Yesterday was fun, I admit, but inconclusive.” Jim sat back again, pushing his plate away with little food missing. Shere Khan followed it happily. Sebastian’s ears flickered, showing his curiosity to the situation. 

“If you’re going to be wonderful, you’ll have to show me you can do real work.” 

“Like what?” Sebastian was up for anything, even knowing his new owner could easily come up with some very bizarre things for him to do. Jim smirked at him. It wasn’t as unnerving as it had been before. The human was just strange and that was something he could get use to. Jim retrieved his phone from his pocket and flicked through it with his petite little thumbs. 

“Let’s see shall we? Boring. Boring. Tedious. Stupid. Ooh. Smuggling Infected. That sounds right up your alley.” Jim shot him a look over his mobile. 

“Dear Jim, will you please fix it for me. Blah blah blah, sneaking in low rank Infected from China for sale and real lives. Blah, boring, words.” Someone’s attention span was very short. Sebastian wasn’t surprised at all, but he would have to be careful. 

“ _We are hardly the bad guys_ , but the public views us as blah. Don’t care. We are looking for a route into London that we may use for sneaking higher ranked Infected. London possess better surgeons and a smoother living style for Infected of all kinds. Why would I want to help you, you stupid slut. Blah blah blah. If you help us, we can pay you handsomely. Clearly they’re up to more than smuggling Infected. Not much business there.” Jim scrolled along his phone some more, irritatedly mocking the rest of the email. He stuck his tongue out as he pocketed his phone again.

“Alright Mr. Bengal Tiger. Let’s see if you’re really up for the task. Find a route that lies undetectable from the government. Make sure this stupid little ring survives. Get the money.”

“Understood.”

o-o-o

Sebastian was awaken the next morning at five am by the man shoving his shoulder fiercely. The tiger naturally responded by snapping his powerful maw around the offending limb and holding it in a death trap grip. Wooden eyes narrowed at him dangerously. A lesser man would have ran at the sight, coward in a hole and hid himself from the world but Sebastian wasn't a man and he wasn't a 'lesser' anything. Gold eyes stared back with all the danger in the world, threatening the little human that if he ever invaded his space or his person again, he would have a lot more to lose than his arm. It took him a moment to realize that it was his new owner and biting him was probably a terrible idea. Sebastian released slowly, eyes still locked in an icy stare with the healthy. He brushed his sandpapery tongue against the wound as he pulled away. Jim pulled up his sleeve and examined the crisp bite mark that now circled both sides of his arm.

"Interesting."

  
"You were in my personal space," Sebastian grunted, shifting a little to make himself more comfortable. Jim licked the new circular wound.

"I don't recall you biting me yesterday."

"Yeah. Well you didn't attack me yesterday and I was still pretty heavily sedated," Sebastian explained, lazily scooting over to give the smaller form more room to lay down with him. Jim held his forearm out and Sebastian tended to it systematically with his tongue.

"Did you finish?" Jim insisted pointedly.

"It's been twelve hours."

"That better not be a no."

"I finished six hours ago," Sebastian grunted. Jim smirked.

"Details."

"Dressed the adults as soldiers. Gave the kids fake tags and papers. The codes bypass the search system by a slip noose program. Not many people look too close. Once they're in, the little dark flowers can take it over from there. The fake IDs are disposed of and no one knows any wiser."

"Pricey," Jim said curiously.

"No. Time consuming, though. I put together an alternate route. An abandoned route leading directly into London. It's guarded by Infected. I replaced them for the government. Free of charge."

"Good. And the money."

"She says the dark flowers don't charge."

"You did it for free?" sneered Jim.

"She was a liar. They smuggle and sell goods. Very high priced goods. I cut her and told her if she ever tried to pull one over on you again, the only place she could hide is in a grave," Sebastian assured him swiftly. He wouldn't really leave without any money. If he ever thought she didn't have money, he would have just killed her, threw someone else in charge and make double the profit. In fact, he might suggest it later.

"Lovely," Jim purred against the side of his face. "Where?"

"The inside of her cheek."

"You're fantastic."

"You get sixty percent of the profits and can't be traced to you. I've fixed it." Sebastian swished his tail around as Jim scratched him behind the ears.

"Not brilliant, but efficient. You can stay, for now. It should be fun having a pet in the house.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoyed this? Learn more about the Infected AU at infectedbythecure.tumblr.com

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve decided to go a dual route with this story. Half of it going to John and embracing humanity and half of it going to Sebastian and embracing animal instinct. This is Sebastian’s half of ‘Bring Me Back A Dog’.


End file.
